SQL Server 2022 Standard
Relational database engine licensed per core or by server plus CALs.
- SKU
- MS-SQL22-STD-2C
- Licence
- Volume
- Term
- Perpetual
Price on enquiryQuoted against your configuration
SQL Server
SQL Server licensing, priced both ways
Per-core and server-plus-CAL produce very different totals for the same workload. We price both against your actual connection pattern rather than defaulting to one.
SQL Server Standard can be licensed two ways: per core, with a four-core minimum per instance and no CAL requirement, or server-plus-CAL, where one server licence is paired with a CAL for every user or device that connects.
Per-core suits externally-facing or high-connection-count workloads. Server-plus-CAL suits internal applications with a countable, stable user base. The difference between them on the same workload is frequently large.
Standard or Enterprise
Enterprise removes the memory and feature ceilings of Standard, and is licensed per core only. Given the price step, it is worth confirming that a specific Enterprise capability is genuinely required before committing.
- Multi-replica Always On availability groups — Enterprise
- Online index rebuilds without downtime — Enterprise
- Table and index partitioning at scale — Enterprise
- Buffer pool memory above 128 GB per instance — Enterprise
- Everything else, for most line-of-business workloads — Standard
Virtualisation and licence mobility
A virtualised SQL deployment must license either all physical cores on the host or the virtual cores assigned to the guest, with a four-core minimum per virtual machine.
Moving licences between servers more often than every 90 days requires active Software Assurance. This matters particularly if you intend to run SQL on cloud infrastructure — without licence mobility, the licence cannot move.
SQL Server licensing
SQL Server 2022 Enterprise
Full-capability database engine for high-availability, large-scale workloads.
- SKU
- MS-SQL22-ENT-2C
- Licence
- Volume
- Term
- Perpetual
Price on enquiryQuoted against your configuration
Frequently asked questions
Can you transfer our existing Microsoft tenant to your billing?
Yes. Moving the billing relationship to a Cloud Solution Provider is an administrative change. Your tenant, data, configuration and users are unaffected, and there is no downtime.
Do you supply both subscription and perpetual Microsoft licensing?
Yes. Subscriptions through CSP, and perpetual licences such as Windows Server, SQL Server and Office LTSC through volume licensing. We will price both where both are viable for your scenario.
Can seat counts be reduced mid-term?
Additions can be made at any time. Reductions take effect at the subscription anniversary, which is why the renewal date is the point at which a genuine review is worth doing.
Get SQL Server priced both ways
Tell us the core count, connection pattern and whether the workload is virtualised. We will quote per-core and server-plus-CAL side by side.